10 November 2009: UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark and Spanish Secretary of State for International Cooperation Soraya Rodriguez have signed a multi-year Strategic Partnership Agreement primarily supporting UNDP projects targeting poverty and addressing climate change.
The close to €400 million partnership will help finance projects that aim to reduce poverty and vulnerability by supporting interventions that improve environmental management and service delivery at the national and local levels, increase access to new financing mechanisms and enhance capacity to adapt to climate change.
The earlier agreement signed between Spain and UNDP dates back to 2006, when the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Achievement Fund was established to manage €528 million – the largest contribution from a single bilateral donor into the UN system. Currently, the MDG Achievement Fund has financed about 130 projects across 50 countries in five regions. The Fund has six thematic funding windows including gender equality and women’s empowerment; culture and development; economic governance; youth, employment and migration; conflict prevention and peace building; and environment and climate change.
Under the thematic window for environment and climate change, 16 Joint Programmes have been approved so far, and are being implemented in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Jordan, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Senegal and Turkey, with an estimated total budget of $90 million. [MDG Achievement Fund] [UNDP Press Release]